Strays
by Khentkawes
Summary: “Daniel had to admit, after a long day’s work it was nice to know there was someone waiting for him at home. Which only made what he was about to do even harder.” JackDaniel friendship. Tiny bit of angst. Mostly fluff. Literally.


Title: Strays

Summary: "Daniel had to admit, after a long day's work it was nice to know there was someone waiting for him at home. Which only made what he was about to do even harder." JackDaniel friendship. Tiny bit of angst. Mostly fluff. Literally.

Spoilers: Meridian, Fallen, Homecoming, and Crystal Skull.

Season: early season 7, not long after Orpheus.

* * *

Daniel had to admit, after a long day's work it was nice to know there was someone waiting for him at home. It was nice to hear that cheerful, enthusiastic greeting as he walked up to his front door. Nice to know that he'd been missed throughout the day. 

Which only made what he was about to do even harder.

"I warned you that things would never work out between us," Daniel said softly. He had waited until after dinner to break the news, still unsure where to start. They had moved outside to enjoy the cool evening air. Now, sitting on the front porch steps, Daniel knew he really had to make a final decision.

"You know I like you. You make me laugh, make me smile…" Daniel sighed, wondering why this had to be so hard. "…but this relationship really isn't fair to either one of us. I told you from the beginning that I couldn't commit to anything long term, and dragging this out will just make it harder on both of us in the end."

His companion leaned up against his side, staring up at him with bright green eyes filled with affection.

Daniel dropped his head to his chest, shaking it slightly in dismay. "Oh, don't look at me like that." Daniel winced at the pleading tone in his own voice. "You know this isn't the way I want it to be, but we really don't have a choice here."

"Meer-ow?"

In spite of himself, Daniel laughed at the plaintive sound. He'd known he was suckered from the first time he heard that pathetic little meow, and it never failed to produce a smile on his face.

"You know, I may not be a cat expert, but you really do have the most pitiful meow of any cat I have ever heard."

She looked up at him, eyes sparkling. "Meeer-ow?" He shook his head and reached down to scratch her behind the ear. She leaned in, tilting her head in pleasure, as if to give him a better angle when in reality her movements only made it more difficult.

"What am I going to do with you?"

The gray cat merely purred in response, rubbing up against his jeans, arching her back as she nudged his leg with her head.

"I wish you could stay here," he said quietly. "I really do. But I'm almost never home. And let's face it, I can barely remember to feed myself, so how would I remember to feed a cat? Besides, who would take care of you when I'm gone? Most of the time, you'd end up on your anyway."

She rubbed up against him again, leaning in as far as she could.

Daniel sighed. "But that's the problem, isn't it? You don't want to be on your own any more than I do." He gently ran a hand down her back. "Yeah, I know where you're coming from, but it's not like I have that much to offer you here." She seemed not to mind, content with flopping down at his side, stretching out her long sleek body against his thigh, eyes squinting in drowsy satisfaction.

"Well, what do we have here?" Both Daniel and the cat jumped at the sound of the voice, tinged with sarcasm and amusement. Daniel stared in surprise as Jack strolled up the walkway. He saw Jack's truck parked across the street, and wondered why he hadn't heard his friend approach. The gray cat leapt down the two porch steps and pranced up to Jack, rubbing up against his legs in greeting. Jack's eyes widened.

"Daniel? Care to explain your little friend here?"

Daniel just shrugged. "She adopted me." He winced slightly when he realized what he'd just said. Since his ascension, random memories had chosen to surface at the most inconvenient times. Now, his thoughts turned towards foster families he'd stayed with… towards his grandfather's refusal to adopt him after his parents died…

If Jack noticed his discomfort, he didn't mention it, although he watched Daniel closely for a moment, before glancing down at the cat. She had resumed rubbing up against Jack's leg.

"So, um…" Daniel cleared his throat. "What are you doing here?"

"Can't a guy stop by and visit his friend?" Jack asked innocently. Daniel gave him an appraising look and Jack looked away. He was about to say something more when the cat interrupted him.

"Meer-ow?"

"Friendly little critter, isn't it," Jack observed.

Daniel chuckled slightly. "Yeah, she certainly is. I kept expecting her to leave, but every time I came home, she was here waiting for me."

Carefully stepping over the cat, Jack moved to sit next to Daniel on the porch step.

"Never really had you pegged as a cat person," Jack said, eyeing him skeptically.

Daniel just shrugged. "Well, like I said, she adopted me, not the other way around. I didn't really have much choice in the matter."

Jack glanced around suspiciously. Looking behind him he noticed a few casual items strewn across the front porch: a pair of Daniel's jogging shoes, a metal watering-can that must have been left behind by the previous owners, an unread newspaper and… ah yes, there it was. A small plastic dish filled with cat food. Jack picked up the dish, holding it by the edge as he brought it to eye level. Jack raised an eyebrow, clearly waiting for a response. Daniel looked away sheepishly.

"Ya know, if you really want to get rid of a cat, feeding it probably isn't the best method."

"Well, I couldn't let her starve."

"If you hadn't started feeding the critter, it would have just gone somewhere else to find food, and then you wouldn't be stuck with a fur-ball running around here."

Daniel glared. "I tried ignoring her, but she wouldn't leave. She just kind of took up residence, like she thought she belonged here or something." The cat was still rubbing up against them, purring vocally as if to corroborate Daniel's story. "And then I felt guilty for ignoring her, so I… tried feeding her some tuna." Again, Daniel looked away.

Jack gave a gruff laugh. "Dannyboy, you have officially been trained. The fluff-ball came in, looking all cute and helpless, and managed to worm its way into your life. Now this cat has you doing exactly what she—what _it_ wants. With cats, you have to make sure they know who's boss, otherwise they'll just…" The cat chose that moment to jump up onto Jack's lap, butting its head into Jack's stomach and then looking up at him with a pleased expression.

"What do you think you're doing?" the colonel exclaimed. The cat purred louder, then stretched up until its nose was just a few inches from Jack's face. Jack pulled back, but the cat seemed unperturbed, settling down in his lap and closing its eyes.

Daniel doubled over in helpless laughter. Both Jack and the cat glared at him with equally annoyed expressions; Jack annoyed at Daniel's apparent amusement, and the cat annoyed by the noisy disruption to its planned nap.

"You see," Daniel said, still chuckling. "She likes it here, and she has no intention of leaving."

Jack shifted slightly, as if trying to dislodge his new friend, but to no avail. "Ha ha, very funny," Jack grumbled. But the cat was quite comfortable and Jack finally took his own advice and ignored it as much as possible. "So what are you going to do with her?"

"I don't know," Daniel sighed. "I know that keeping her isn't feasible, especially with the amount of time we spent off-world. I tried asking around, seeing if she had a home somewhere, but none of my neighbors seem to have lost a cat, and none of them are willing to take her either."

"You could take her to an animal shelter. There are probably several in the area, and it's a sure way to get her off your hands."

"No." The flat, firm tone came as a surprise.

"Why not? That's what animal shelters do. You drop off the cat, and they'll take care of her, find her a home. No problem."

"I – I can't," Daniel said. "It just – I mean – it would seem like I was denying any responsibility in the matter."

"Daniel, you're not responsible for every helpless creature in the galaxy. This cat clearly loves people…she probably had a home once and some jerk dropped her off to try and get rid of her. It's not your responsibility."

"So you want me to return the favor and just drop her off at some shelter… pass the problem off to someone else, and just… abandon her."

The brittle, sharp edge to Daniel's voice made Jack stop. The cat, disturbed by the argument, jumped from Jack's lap and moved back to Daniel's side, bumping her head against his hand. Daniel responded automatically, scratching her behind the ear. He hung his head low and kept his eyes averted, but he could feel Jack watching him.

"You're not just talking about the cat here, are you?"

Daniel's head jerked up and his eyes met Jack's. For a moment there was a flash of anger in those blue eyes before he turned away. "Of course I'm talking about the cat. What else would I be talking about?"

"I don't know," Jack said quietly. "You tell me."

Eyes averted, Daniel maintained a stony silence. Jack waited patiently, glancing at the cat rubbing against Daniel's hand. The moments slipped by until Daniel finally let out a breath.

"It's not like it's her fault, anyway," Daniel muttered. "She didn't do anything wrong."

Jack nodded in understanding. "Yeah, sometimes life just sucks that way. It's not fair, but that's life."

Daniel snorted in derision. "Don't I know it."

For a moment, the only sound was a gentle purr.

"I know what's going on here," Jack said clearly. Daniel didn't respond, didn't even look up. "I know you've been on your own pretty much all your life. But this cat isn't the only one who's adopted you. _We_ adopted you. Whether you like it or not. And we just got you back. We're not about to let you run off on your own again."

Daniel looked up and saw the sincerity in Jack's eyes. "I wasn't planning on it."

"Good. Because I won't let you." Jack's tone was unusually serious.

Daniel had no idea what to say.

"Meer-ow?" The cat looked up at them.

Jack and Daniel looked from the cat to each other and both laughed at the cat's innocent question.

"You know who would be perfect for this cat?" Jack asked, while the cat rubbed up against Daniel's leg.

"Who?"

"Alexis Callahan."

"Who?"

"Lieutenant Callahan." Daniel showed no sign of recognition. "Your administrative assistant."

"Administrative assistant?"

Jack let out a huff. "Yes, Daniel. She's like a department secretary. Is this ringing any bells?"

"Jack, I don't have a secretary."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you… oh wait. We hired her after you, uh… left."

"You did?"

"Yeah." Daniel still had that confused look on his face. "Well, who do you think ran the anthropology department after you left? Jonas?"

"Well, he did take over my job," Daniel said.

"He filled your position on SG-1, he did not take over your job as department head. Officially, Balinsky got that job, but everyone knows that Lieutenant Callahan has practically been running the department. I assumed you knew."

"I wonder if that's why there's always coffee in my office."

"Probably."

"And why all the status reports are always on time. I used to have to bug people for weeks before I got status reports."

"Yeah, well Callahan can be a bit pushy. That's partially why we hired her. And it's why she would be the perfect owner for your little friend here."

"Huh?" Daniel couldn't manage a more intelligent response. He thought he might get whiplash from trying to follow Jack's logic.

"Well this cat here…"

"Meeeee-row," the creature in question interrupted.

"Yes, I'm talked about you," Jack told her. "This pushy little cat has inserted herself into your life and successfully trained you to do her bidding. Meanwhile, the equally pushy Lieutenant Callahan, who just so happens to love animals, has inserted herself into your department, and managed to successfully train a bunch of geeks how to fill out military paperwork and turn it in on time. It's a match made in heaven."

Daniel looked at the cat, then looked up to Jack. "You know Jack, I'd forgotten how strangely your mind seems to work."

"Thank you. So what d'ya say? How about on Monday I introduce you to your administrative assistant and we see if she's willing to give your furry friend a home?"

"Meerow!"

Daniel chuckled. "I guess she agrees."

"Great!" Jack stood up quickly, slapping his hands together. "So in the meantime, what do you think about having Carter and Teal'c over for dinner tomorrow tonight? We could fire up the barbecue…"

"Jack, I don't have a barbecue."

"Not yet. So tomorrow we go out, buy a barbecue, get some steaks, call Carter and tell her to bring a salad, and presto! Instant team night."

"You're just full of ideas today, aren't you Jack?"

"You betcha. And my last plan worked out so well, even the cat agreed with it. So come on." Jack tried looking innocent and pleading, but only succeeded in looking pathetic.

Daniel stood as well, grinning in spite of himself. "Okay."

Jack clapped him on the back. "Good. Because I already told Carter and Teal'c to meet us for dinner at your place on Saturday." Jack turned, walked up the porch steps and into the house, leaving the door open behind him.

"Don't you think you should have asked me first?" Daniel called after him. Jack seemed not to notice, already making his way to Daniel's kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and poked around for a minute or two.

"Daniel, don't forget to add beer to the shopping list," Jack called out.

Daniel threw his hands up in the air helplessly and plopped back down onto the porch step while Jack made himself at home, rooting through Daniel's house.

The gray cat jumped back up onto Daniel's lap and looked at him expectantly.

"I know, I know. I haven't taken him to obedience school yet. Just give me some time. Re-training an air force colonel isn't as easy as it looks."

* * *

A/N: apparently there's a new Stargate fanfic award site out there: The Skiffy Awards. Visit the following website to learn more - www (dot) freewebs (dot) com / skiffyawards 


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